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Body Searches

Lord Lucas: To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their policy that police officers assigned as male at birth who now identify as women should be allowed to strip search female suspects and, if not, what advice they will offer to the National Police Chiefs’ Council and to police forces which currently allow this practice.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the PACE Codes of Practice have clear same-sex provisions in relation to the conduct of certain searches of persons by police officers.All searches conducted in custody, including strip searches, as well as searches undertaken under stop and search powers involving the removal of more than an outer jacket and certain other garments, must be conducted by an officer of the same sex as the detainee.It is not right, safe or respectful to women for an officer who is biologically male but who has simply self-identified as female to be able to conduct a strip search of a woman.Whilst respecting the operational independence of the police, the Government expects chief constables to ensure that their force policies comply with all legal obligations, including under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and Equalities Act 2010.

Department for Education

Turing Scheme

Earl Russell: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to theTuring Scheme: evaluation of year 1, published on 3 January, which found that 79 per cent of universities had difficulties with the Turing scheme application process, whetherthey intend to review that process.

Baroness Barran: For applications to the Turing Scheme for the next academic year, the department has been working with users across the education sector, including universities, to develop a new online application process that is as concise and user friendly as possible, reducing the application burden on education providers.The department has published information for 2024/25 academic year applications to the Turing Scheme, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/turing-scheme-apply-for-funding-for-international-placements. Schools, colleges, and universities across the UK can now review the guidance and prepare their applications for funding ahead of the application window opening in February 2024.

Department of Health and Social Care

Breast Cancer: Screening

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Public Accounts Committee reportAdult health screening, published on 10 May 2019 (HC 1746), what progress they have made towards the first recommendation contained in that report to publish a plan, with timeframes for action, to explain how they intend to address the health inequalities that exist in breast screening.

Lord Markham: Public Health England published an inequalities strategy in an online-only format in October 2020 aimed at supporting local screening services, commissioners, and others to address inequalities. Accepted recommendations from the 2019 Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on Adult Health Screening have now been implemented, so NHS England no longer reports against the PAC report. NHS England has developed a national plan to improve uptake within the breast screening programme, including interventions to address inequalities and screening barriers. This includes working to ensure that breast screening appointments are as convenient to people as possible and focusing its efforts on low uptake areas and groups. NHS England is also working to ensure they have data, including on protected characteristics, to support services to deliver more targeted initiatives.

Operating Theatres: Fires

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government how they categorise surgical harm in reference to the outcomes of surgical fires; and what plans they have to categorise harm based on the areas most affected by such a fire.

Lord Markham: Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have, or did, lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires and burns. Providers are encouraged to foster a positive safety culture among their staff, and ensure an appropriate local focus on incident recognition, recording, and response. Recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the regulations of which are available in an online only format. NHS England shares all such data with the CQC. Notifiable incidents include events resulting in serious harm or the death of a service user, and therefore the most serious surgical fires or surgical burns are subject to mandatory reporting. However, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning. As such, all recorded patient safety incidents, including surgical fires and burns, are categorised according to the level of harm thought to have resulted, as well as being linked to various other categorical items of data, such as the location of the incident and when it occurred.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Armed Conflict: International Law

The Lord Bishop of Worcester: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the war in Gaza mightaffect respect for international humanitarian law in other conflicts.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We recognise that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas in accordance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL). As the Foreign Secretary has outlined, we assess that Israel has the capability and commitment to comply with IHL, but we are also deeply concerned about the impact on the civilian population in Gaza. We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes.

Windsor Framework

Lord Empey: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 5 January (HL1333), whether they will now answer the question put; namely,what specific changes to the Windsor Framework they have negotiated with the European Union; and when they will be applicable.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: I refer the noble Lord to the reply of 5 January 2024 which said that the UK Government has held extensive talks with the Democratic Unionist Party on the Windsor Framework over the past eight months. As confirmed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 19 December, the Government now stands ready to introduce a package of measures should the DUP reach a decision to proceed. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-12-19/hl1333.We have nothing further to add.